Coherent

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/

Definitions

1. Logically consistent and clearly expressed in a way that is easy to understand
2. Clearly structured and logically unified, allowing for straightforward comprehension and meaningful connections among ideas
3. Characterized by clarity and logical interconnection in speech or writing so that the meaning is easily grasped

Etymology: The Latin verb "haereō" meant "to stick" or "to cling," and it gave English a surprisingly physical starting point for a word now used for clear, logical argument. Adding the prefix "co-" ("together") produced "cohaerēre," meaning "to stick together," and its present participle "cohaerēns" described things that held firmly to one another. Those literal images of adhesion are what the word started from. The path into English ran through Middle French "coherent," which carried the same sense of things cohering. English then took the adjective, and its meaning moved from physical adhesion toward connection between parts: a coherent whole is one where the pieces hold together. From there it was a short step to applying the idea to thought and speech, where a coherent argument is one whose parts stick together logically.

Synonyms: logical, consistent, clear, lucid, articulate

Antonyms: incoherent, confused, illogical, disjointed, unclear